Daily Prophet Flash: DanRad gets Press Pass for Tokyo Vice; The Last Yakuza to be published in 2014

Daniel Radcliffe is set to star in TOKYO VICE. Veteran music video and commercial director Anthony Mandler will direct, based on a script by acclaimed playwright JT Rogers. Le Grisbi Productions’ John Lesher and Adam Kassan are producing. The film is eyeing a start date of first quarter 2014.
Radcliffe will play American reporter Jake Adelstein who, while working at the Yomiuri Shinbun newspaper in Tokyo, covered a beat that included murder, vice, and the yakuza.

Sayonara Speed Tribes (暴走族サヨナラ） opens April 12. Run & catch it!

Japan’s infamous ‘Speed Tribes’ – kamikaze styled biker gangs- have, for decades, delighted would-be rebels and terrorized the general public. Idolized in the underground, demonized by the mass media and hunted by the police, their numbers continue to dwindle into extinction. As an OB (Old Bro) Hazuki is tasked with passing on a dying tradition, but more importantly he must search out a new road or become extinct himself.

Corporal Punishment Getting Punished in Japan; Don’t throw pens at the kids!

The Japanese language is rich with expressions and words that extol the virtues of corporal punishment aka taibatsu (体罰) but the penchant some older Japanese have for slapping their younger counterparts has resulted in damages to Japan’s public image and its Olympic bid. In schools, in companies, and especially in the world of professional sports—taibatsu is becoming a problem too big to smack down.

Reconstructing 3/11: Survivors: Last man in the forbidden zone

Reconstructing 3/11 is a thoughtful examination by an impressive list of noted and knowledgeable authors, if I may say so as editor, of the state of Japanese society one year after the devastating natural and man-made disasters of March 11th, 2011. To mark the second anniversary of those events, and to serve as a reminder that the disastrous effects of 311 still linger, the Abiko Free Press is making Reconstructing 3/11 available to a wider audience by providing readers with both eBook and paperback editions. Reconstructing 3/11” will be available as a free Amazon.com download for a limited time until March 14th. To download your free copy click on one of the following links for either Amazon.com, .co.jp, or .co.uk. The print book will be available to order from Amazon within a week.

Reconstructing 3/11: Sometimes The Yakuza Live Up To Their Ideals　

There was a brief time after the earthquake when Japan welcomed the yakuza and they welcomed the victims with whatever aid they could provide. As time passes most of them (the yakuza) go back to doing what they really do to make a living: blackmailing, extorting, threatening and defrauding the general populace of their money and engaging in whatever crime they can get away with.

Japan, Mother of the World’s First Novel Hosts Its First International Literary Festival

Japan, the Mother of World’s First Novel to Hosted its First International Literary Festival, this year.

Japan & China: a couple that can’t get divorced, says former Ambassador

For thousands of years, China and Japan have been neighboring countries. Former Japanese ambassador to China, Uichiro Niwa, at a press conference held today, explained it is not possible for nations to simply move away from one another. “A married couple might be able to choose the path of divorce and decide to live far away from each other, but Japan and China have no choice but to move to a friendly way towards the future. Despite all the disagreement and disorder they must work very hard to maintain a friendly relationship to go forward with regard to sovereignty or territorial issues.”

“Strong In The Rain” shines among books on Japan’s 3/11

The message of “Strong In The Rain” in its tale of foreign and Japanese heroes and villains–and there are both, remains with the reader long after the book is done. Because the book forces us to face the core of our existence: what is it to survive, who do you save and who do you leave, when do we stand up and when do we shut up? What is it be a hero? The book provides the questions and some answers. The book is very dense in that important facts are sometime buried in one or two simple sentences. Blink and you miss something important. It’s not an easy read but it is rewarding.

The Best Articles About Japan 2012 (on our blog) :D

Hello Kitty, yakuza working in the nuclear industry, coffee and cigarettes, 2012 was a year chock full of news. Here are some of our favorite stories we ran in 2012.

How The CIA Helped The Yakuza & The LDP Get Power & Promote Nuclear Power

Chapter 12: “We Ran It In A Different Way” is a must for anyone interested in the shadow history of Japan. It details how in post-war Japan, the CIA, using large amounts of cash, reinstated former war criminal Kodama Yoshio and hand-picked one of Japan’s Prime Ministers–in order to supress communist/socialist movements. Kodama had extensive yakuza ties and huge amounts of capital made in the black markets in China. ($175 million estimated). The Tokyo CIA station reported on September 10th, 1953, “(Kodama) is a professional liar, gangster, charlatan, and outright thief….and has no interest in anything but the profits.” It still didn’t keep the CIA from doing business with him up to that time and behind the scenes later. The chapter also notes how the CIA was able to ensure that Nobusuke Kishi became Japan’s prime minister and the chief of its ruling party, in order to ensure that Japan didn’t go red. The president himself seemed to have authorized huge cash payments to Kishi and his other lackeys within the LDP.